Henry Hitchings's study of English etiquette is a bold and entertaining take on an impossible subject
The English have never ceased to find themselves, and the complexities of their island inheritance, fascinating. The question of "Englishness" has been a literary genre at least since Daniel Defoe made his tour of Great Britain in 1724-27. The best parts of Sorry! are when Hitchings re-examines the English "manners" of, for example, Samuel Pepys, Lord Chesterfield, who invented "etiquette", Edmund Burke, or Fanny Trollope (Anthony's mother) and her entertaining strictures about the vulgarity and self-belief of Americans.
The past is another country. As his exposition of English manners, and why we behave the way we do, approaches the present day, the rigour of Hitchings's absorbing analysis starts to break down as he becomes distracted by myriad contemporary issues and concerns, ranging from telephone etiquette (mobiles at the dinner table?), to supermarket manners (ogling a neighbour's shopping trolley). Hitchings the journalist moves his centre of gravity from the library to the field. His research becomes impressionistic and personal (a cafe in the West Midlands; a restaurant in Egypt; childhood memories from the 1970s and 80s; vox pops with young people). Hunting a moving target becomes a game of pin the tail on the donkey.